Stop Harms from Addictive Social Media Act (HF 4138) ↗
Signed by Gov. Walz 2026-05-26 (House 132-2, Senate 66-0); operative 2027-07-01 and applies to all accounts regardless of creation date. No suit filed against HF 4138 as of 2026-07-04; NetChoice testified in opposition on First Amendment grounds and publicly urged a veto. (NetChoice v. Ellison, filed 2026-04-29, targets Minnesota's separate warning-label law, not HF 4138.)
Thin entry authored at breadth tier. 'Covered social media platform' turns on both a size threshold (10,000+ account holders OR $1B+ worldwide revenue) and a definition with an explicit e-commerce carve-out (see scope). Penalty structure, enforcer, and private-right-of-action not verified (omitted rather than guessed). Section pins pending a line-by-line pass against the enrolled text. Minnesota separately enacted a minor-content-creator (kidfluencer) compensation/data law (HF 3488, 2024, effective 2025-07-01; news coverage describes the covered children as under 14) and, per secondary trackers, a social-media mental-health warning-label law effective 2026-07-01; neither is decomposed here. Status is `delayed` (signed, future operative date, no litigation known as of 2026-07-04).
Scope
Reaches a 'covered social media platform' meeting the 'social media platform' definition: an internet site/app open to the public that lets users create accounts and communicate with other users 'for the primary purpose of posting and viewing information, comments, messages, images, or videos,' and that uses addictive interface features, profile-based feeds, or personal data for targeted advertising.
- A 'covered social media platform' is one with 10,000+ account holders or $1B+ worldwide revenue.
- The definition expressly excludes 'e-commerce' services 'where the content is not user generated, but where interactive functions enable chat, comments, reviews, or other interactive functionality that is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent upon the non-user-generated content.'
Key dates
- Signed
- 2026-05-26
- Effective
- 2027-07-01
Obligations (2)
Obtain verifiable parental consent before providing an account to a child (defined as an individual age 15 or younger residing in Minnesota).
Statute’s own ages: Verifiable parental consent required for a 'child' = age 15 or younger; 16- and 17-year-olds fall outside the consent requirement (hence no 16_17 bracket).
Do not present addictive interface features to a child's account, including infinite scrolling, profile-based feeds, push notifications, autoplay video, personal-metric displays (e.g. like counts), and achievement badges; default the account to the most private settings and bar targeted paid advertising in a child's feed.
Statute’s own ages: Applies to accounts of a 'child' (age 15 or younger); the Act's threshold for these protections tracks under-16 rather than the canonical 16_17 band.
Cross-state comparisons
- similarny-safe-for-kids (New York): Both restrict addictive/algorithmic feed features on minors' accounts and gate them on parental controls; HF 4138 goes further by also requiring verifiable parental consent to open a child's account and mandating most-private defaults.
- similarga-sb351 (Georgia): Both condition a minor's social-media account on age determination plus verifiable parental consent, keyed to under-16, and both drew First Amendment opposition from NetChoice.